Julia Marciari-Alexander is leaving the San Diego Museum of Art to become director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

After a nearly yearlong search, the Walters hired Marciari-Alexander to replace Gary Vikan, who retired last year after 27 years with the museum, including 18 years as executive director.

“Julia Marciari-Alexander not only has excellent academic and institutional credentials, but also a strong history of creative community outreach,” said Ellen Bernard, a Walters trustee and chair of the search committee, in a statement. “She is highly regarded for her collaborative and strategic approach to leadership, and is known for her high energy and her ability to listen and engage.”

The Walters Art Museum, which announced the appointment Wednesday, is Baltimore’s flagship museum. It touts itself as “one of only a few museums worldwide to present a comprehensive history of art from the third millennium B.C to the early 20th century” and claims Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Byzantine, Ethiopian, western medieval, Renaissance and Asian art collections “that are among the best in the nation.”

The institution has an annual operating budget of approximately $13 million and attracts 169,000 visitors a year (compared to approximately $9 million and 232,000 visitors for the San Diego Museum of Art).

“The Walters is, without question, one of America’s greatest museums, and the opportunity to build upon the strong foundation laid by the board, Gary Vikan and the staff is a privilege,” said Marciari-Alexander in a statement. “As the new executive director, it will be my goal to leverage the collection and the professional expertise of staff to strengthen the Walters’ reputation as an international leader in the field of collections development, museum scholarship and community engagement.”

Marciari-Alexander joined the San Diego Museum of Art in 2008 as its first deputy director for curatorial affairs after more than a decade at the Yale Center for British Art. She also earned her Ph.D in art history from Yale and did her undergraduate work at Wellesley.

After Derrick Cartwright’s departure from the San Diego Museum of Art in 2009, she became part of a four-member interim co-directorship and was considered a strong candidate for a position that was ultimately awarded to Roxana Velásquez, who became the museum’s new director in 2011.

“For five years, the San Diego Museum of Art has enjoyed and benefitted from Julia Marciari-

Alexander’s productive tenure as the deputy director for curatorial affairs,” said Velásquez in a statement. “She developed strong community support for the institution, oversaw the publications program and coordinated numerous important exhibitions... I am proud and delighted that she has been chosen to

lead such a prestigious institution.”

Marciari-Alexander’s husband, John Marciari, a highly-regarded Yale-trained scholar who is the San Diego Museum of Art’s curator of European art and head of provenance research, will also leave the museum and move to Baltimore. He’ll work on independent projects, including two for the San Diego Museum of Art: finishing the first complete, detailed catalog of the museum’s European collection, and helping curate an exhibition of Spanish art the museum is planning for 2015.

The search for Marciari-Alexander’s successor is already underway. Her new job will officially begin on April 1.

“We were looking for a dynamic leader to enhance our mission of bringing art and people together in Baltimore and beyond through education, exhibitions and innovative uses of technology, and we’ve found that and more in Julia,” said Bernard, the search committee head. “We can’t wait to welcome her and her family to Baltimore.”